The word hail itself has more than one meaning in English.Primarily a form of solid precipitation, a hailstone is common in mid-latitudes. In comparison to daily objects, the size of a hailstone can range from anywhere from a pea to a grapefruit!The word hail is a homophone. Therefore, the same spelling also means to call for someone as a greeting. It can also be used to praise an individual, and one may even hail from or belong to a place. There are also some archaic usages of this word. So, be wary of how you use hail in a sentence.Nevertheless, adding the word stone to hail can clear all the confusion. The largest hailstone ever recorded was a massive 8.0 in (20.32 cm) in diameter. This chunk of ice weighed 1.94 lb (880 g). It was found in a place called Vivian in South Dakota.You can never know too much. To quench that thirst, you can also check out gravity facts and glacier facts to add to your wisdom.Hail: Meaning With ExamplesSimply put, hail is a chunk of ice formed out of precipitation inside thunderstorm clouds.While hail and ice pellets may seem the same, there is one crucial distinction. Ice pellets usually are much smaller, and they look like clear ice. In comparison, when the hail falls, they look like cloudy ice. This happens because hail contains many layers of transparent or translucent ice, one on top of the other. Each ball is quite irregular in its shape and is commonly called a hailstone. Even though hailstones are essentially frozen raindrops, they can be seen rarely in extremely cold areas, while ice pellets, not so surprisingly, are common in cold regions.Any thunderstorm which provides a downpour of hailstones can be referred to as a hailstorm. There are varied ranges of hail size. Smaller hailstones below 0.80 in (2 cm) are not considered a threat. On the other hand, larger hailstones above 0.80 in (2 cm) can create structural damage to property and crops, affecting the lives of humans every year. It is commonly believed that large hailstones fall at a more incredible velocity than smaller ones. However, an accurate estimate cannot be made since the shape of hail is not regular. Storms with giant hail are considered severe thunderstorms, which bring misfortune. For example, although an uncommon sight, supercell thunderstorms have been recorded to produce baseball-sized hail in Oklahoma. Large hailstone has even resulted in the death of many. 200-600 nomads approximately are estimated to have passed away because of a hailstone hit.Formation Of Hail In Simple WordsHail is formed by the accumulation of liquid water, which freezes together inside cumulonimbus clouds.Hail contains nothing but frozen droplets after precipitation. A cumulonimbus cloud is shaped like an anvil or mushroom, inside which powerful currents of high winds keep ascending. These usually hold ice particles. Such clouds must also have high concentrations of supercooled liquid water. These currents pull water droplets into the clouds. Since supercooled water in liquid form is already present, they tend to stick to the droplet bit by bit. This will form layers of ice over the droplet. As the droplet keeps moving to higher altitudes, the original tiny piece will keep getting bigger inside the updraft. This keeps happening until the stone is too large and heavy to be sustained inside the updraft. Nonetheless, the stone might still be supported in the air before it drops on earth. This happens when this stone gets dragged inside an even stronger updraft, thereby sustaining the weight of the hailstone.To make it easier to understand, a golf ball-sized stone can remain inside an updraft with a 60 mph (96.5 kph) velocity. Practically speaking, though, the gravitational pull after one point begins to tug on the stone because of its mass, which is when it hits the ground.Since a hailstone is formed layer by layer, seeing the inside of such a stone is even more fun. If you cut such a stone in half, ice rings can be seen neatly packed inside. Here is the catch - the growth of hailstones can happen in two ways, which makes some rings milky while the others remain clear. The processes in question are wet growth, which creates clear rings, and dry growth, making milky rings.When does it hail?Surprisingly, a hail storm is more likely to happen in the warmer months, from spring to summer, sometimes stretching to the beginning of autumn.It is rather odd that something formed below the freezing level is more common during warm weather. To understand this, it is important to know where a hail storm will be customary. Hail showers can be found generally in mid-latitudes. The surface temperature around these regions is hot enough to melt ice, while the air on the elevated levels is freezing, causing instability during the summer. Hence, the hail forms up in the cloud and falls on earth.For a hailstorm to happen, various factors have to align in place. Along with the instability, there should always be a high moisture content. Low freezing levels are also important. Lastly, the variation in the velocity of the vertical winds should be high. A hail thunderstorm is relatively common in rocky mountains since the ranges push the horizontal winds upwards, increasing the updraft strength.Since large hail can be damaging, it is crucial to detect hail storms. Such storms are very similar to common thunderstorms, hardly having any distinct characteristics which can be used as a precursor. However, National Severe Storms Laboratory has worked hard to analyze and predict these storms with better precision. They deal with weather observation technology and forecast tools, and hail certainly gets a fair amount of attention.Difference Between Hail And RainThe primary difference between hail and rain is that, while hail is a frozen raindrop, rain is just heavy water droplets.Essentially, hail is a modified version of raindrops. Rain is water droplets present in the clouds, which are too heavy to be contained anymore. An intriguing fact is that rain may even initially start as ice crystals in the high altitudes. They break down, melt, and turn into water droplets as they approach the warmer surfaces. On the other hand, when these raindrops get swept up by strong updrafts inside thunderstorms, the liquid water becomes hail. If the hailstone came in contact with an adequate amount of warm air, it would have been turned back into the water. Since the thunderstorm does not support this condition, the hail in question falls on the ground as ice.Hail is naturally always accompanied by rain. In severe thunderstorms, one can witness hail falling on the ground along with rain. This is when people often say it is raining hailstones. You can even crunch on this hail if you are feeling adventurous since it is nothing but a form of precipitated water. Much of the drinking water comes from precipitation. When such frozen chunks fall as pellets or as small hail in multitudes, it can also be called a hail shower. Thunderstorms are categorized into two broad kinds. The ones with a mesocyclone are called supercell thunderstorms, while the other is simply called ordinary storms, which are not very destructive.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created many interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for hail facts: know how hail forms, fall, and cause hailstorms, then why not take a look at why do dogs roll on their backs, classic pup behavior explained, or where do almonds come from, interesting facts about healthy nuts?
The word hail itself has more than one meaning in English.
